Candles are used in a variety of environments for decorative and environmental effects, among others. A conventional candle, once lit, continues to burn until it is manually extinguished or the entirety of the candle is consumed. There is a significant risk that a burning candle is forgotten, and thus continues to burn unsupervised.
Structures have been developed to limit or control the extent of a burn of a candle. U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,286 to Snuggs discloses a candle-extinguishing apparatus which includes a plurality of stops which extend through the side of the candle and retains a sliding wick collar which is intended to snuff the candle flame. U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,214 to Ronnback discloses a candle distinguishing apparatus which includes a heat shrinkable plastic sleeve that, when heated by the candle flame, shrinks about the burning end of the candle to extinguish the flame. The foregoing and other devices are in general inefficient in operation and/or cumbersome to operate.
It is accordingly a purpose of the present invention to provide a device that may be utilized with a candle, and a candle incorporating such a device, to provide a self-extinguishing feature and which is efficient in operation and economical in manufacture.
A further purpose of the present invention is to provide such a candle-extinguishing device apparatus that may be easily removed from the candle after operation to permit re-lighting and continued use of the remaining candle portion.
Yet another purpose of the present invention is to provide such a device that can be interconnected with other similar device units to form a unitary construction that exhibits increased stability within a candle and allows multiple re-lightings of the candle to be performed.